Potato-planter



[No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. H. FISH. POTATO PLANTER.

{No.Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' S. H. FISH.

POTATO PLANTER.

No. 505,877. Patented Oct. 3, 1893.

(No Moden) e sheets-sheet s.

S. H. FISH; PoTATo PLANTBR.

N0.505,877. V Pratented 001;.3,18,93.

-JIU UNH" (No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet 4.

S. H. FISH. PoTATo -PLMITERl No. 505,877. yPatente Oct. 3, 1893.

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Ii Il' I mail II I H ""Hulllll will@ l (No Model.) 6 SheetsSheet 6.

S. H. FISH. POTATO PLANTER.

No. 505,877. Patented 001;. s, 189s.

(-No Mdel.) 6 Sheets-Shet 6.

' s. H. FISH. f Boum BLANTEB'. No' 50.5.4877- y Patented 0pt.' s, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL H. FISH, OF I-IINSDALE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY MIDDAUGI-I, OF CLARENDON HILLS, ILLINOIS.

PoTATo-PLANTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 505,877, dated October 3, 1893. lApplication iled October 25, 1890. Serial No. 369,355. (No model.)l

To all, whom it may concern,.-

Be it. known that I, SAMUEL H. FISH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hinsdale, in the county of Du Page and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Potato-Planters, (Case No..ll,) of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to rpotatofplanters ofthe class illustrated and described in my Patent No. 414,148, granted October 29, 1889.

My invention herein relates more particularly to the dropping mechanism, and I contemplate transmitting-power to the dropping mechanism by means of sprocket wheels and a pitman after the mannery described in my said patent.

The mechanism for throwing the machine into and out of gear may be the same as that claimed in my said pat-ent.

In the practical operation of my vpatented machine I find that sometimes one of the pockets iny the\revolving cylinder would fail to ll and at other times a pocket would become clogged so as to drop two or three pieces at once, and speaking generally, the 4object of ymy invention herein is to prevent such uncertainty in the operation of the machine and provide a mechanism by which the potatoes may be dropped in drills evenly and at uniform distances apart.

More particularly my invention consists, first, in a stationary pocket and means for transmitting one or more potatoes from the hopper thereof to be in position to be taken up by the fork lingers; second,vin a cam for operating the fork fingers and means for imparting to said cam a limited rotary movement upon its shaft to Withdraw one fork to permit the seed for one hill to drop while another fork is caused to take hold of the seed for another hill; third, in the construction whereby a receptacle is provided between the hopper and the pocket for a supply of seed, and reciprocating pieces adapted to move the seed in said receptacle ltoward the dipper whichis operated to fill the pocket from the receptacle, said pieces being preferably yielding; fourth, in a weighted pivoted stop carried by the reciprocating slide and adapted tov be brought into position to prevent the seed from accumulating or becoming clogged at the dipper; fifth, in an arm lever rigidly connected to the shaft on which the cam is mounted and adapted to be operated by stops carried upon the reciprocating slide to insert and withdraw the forks by giving the cam the desired limited rotary movement back and forth; six th, in a spring actuated plate carried bythe slide, in combination with a trigger arranged to release the plate and permit the same to be thrown forward to clear away any surplus seed that may bave been carried back beyond the pocket; seventh, in the disk moved step by step by a pawl upon the reciprocating slide through which disk the forks are inserted; eighth, in the means for holding the disk from turning during the forward stroke of the reciprocating slide; and, ninth, in certain details of construction and combination vof parts hereinafter more particularly described.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1, Sheet l, is a side elevation of a potato planter embodying my invention. Fig. 2, Sheet 2, is a plan View thereof. Fig. 3, Sheet 3, is a side elevation as seen from central section line :ra--a of Fig. 2, the slide, however, being shown thrust forward. Fig. 4 is a detailed side view of the cam for operating the forks. Fig. 5 is a detailed view of the fixed plate provided with the notch which limits the movement of the cam. Fig. 6 is a view showing certain of the parts illustrated in Fig. 3 in the position which theyassume when the slide is thrust back. Fig. 7 is a view of the shovers in the receptacle below the hopper as seen from sectional line y-y of Fig. 1. Fig. 8, Sheet 5, is a view upon.

o l upon line ,aL-z of Fig. 2.

Like parts are indicated -by similar letters of reference throughout the dierent figures.

I would say at the outset that the means for imparting a reciprocating movement to the pitman a forms no part of my invention herein, and therefore I will not describe lthe same further than to state that the sprocket wheels and chain and the means for throwing the machine into and out of gear, the

plow for making the drill and the shovels for y covering the potatoes have been described in my patent of October 29, 1889. I have then the pitman a pivoted to the reciprocating slide b as shown at c. In this manner power is transmitted to the dropping mechanism as the machine is drawn along and the potatoes placed in the hopper d are taken out afew at a time and carried into position to be taken up bythe dippere and emptied from the dipper into the pocketf, and the forks g are inserted successively through the disk h carrying the same, into the pocket to take out one or more, that is, sufficient seed to planta hill. At each backward stroke of the reciprocating slide b the pawl t' carried upon the slide engages with a notch upon the disk k which disk 7a is rigidly connected with fork disk h i and thus the fork disk is carried backward step by step at each reciprocation of the slide b. The shorter arms of the forks are carried in the cam groove Z moving during the backward stroke of the slide but being held from rotary movement by anautomatically actuated dog m during the forward strok-e of the reciprocating slide; this dog is normally thrust forward toward the notched disk 7c by a spring; a bell crank lever it pivoted as shown is operated by a trigger device o carried uponthe slide; this trigger device as the slide begins to move backward comes against an inclined projection or lug upon the bell crank to turn the bell crank upon its pivot and thereby withdraw the dog m from the notch just as the pawl i is about to take another notch of the disk k; while therefore the slide continues its backward movement the disk is turned back- Ward by the pawl, the dog min the meantime riding upon the periphery of the disk ready to take the next notch at the completion of the backward stroke. I have then the fork disk and the vforks rotated a single step at each backward stroke of the slide b and the said'disk is held from rotary movement at other times. It is necessary, however, that the forks shall be operated by the cam at a tirnewhen the disk is thus held from rotary movement. I therefore provide for giving the cam itself a limited rotary movement at the proper time, this rotary movementof the cam being limited bya notch provided in the plate p. Thus as shown in Fig. 5 a pin projecting rfrom the `cam rests in the notch of stationary plate p, the earn is mounted rigidly upon its shaft, the arm q is also rigidly connected with the same shaft, and thus by providing pins fr s upon the slide in position to come `is again brought opposite the pocket.

against the arm at the proper times the cam is itself moved back and forth to operate the fork opposite the pocket when filled and the fork that is in position to drop the seed which it has carried back, and thus while the slide isgoing forward the cam is moved by the pin s coming againstthe arm q and the groove of the cam is of such shape that the forward rotary movement imparted thereto will cause one fork to close and take the seed in the pocket and the opposite fork, that is the one over the hollow shoe, to open and drop the seed. The return stroke of the slide causes the pin 'l' to come against the arm q again and thus the cam is carried back to its other position. Thus the forks have a rotary step by step movement and also an inward and outward movement. As each fork comes up opposite the pocket it closes and remains closed until it is carried by its rotary movement over the hollow shoe and thereupon it is opened, dropping the seed, and stays open empty until it Thus the different forks act in succession.

I have thus described the operation of the forks in dropping the potatoes. I havealso stated the fact that the potatoes are transferred from the hopper to the pocket preparatory to being picked up by the forks` I will now proceed to describe more in detail the means for getting the seed from the hopper into the pocket.

Attached to the reciprocating slideare agitators t which move between the potatoes in the hopper and the sides of the hopper as the slide is reciprocated. The opening from the hopper into the receptacle u between thehopper and the pocket is of sufficient size to permit the potatoes when thus stirred by the agitators to enter the receptacle u. in limit-ed quantities. This receptacle u may be considered as the dividing chamber, that is the place where a few are singled out from the mass. The shovera is mounted upon a pivotal shaft a2 and normally held in the position shown by the springe3 coiled up on said shaft. As the slide b is carried forward the levers a4 connected between the slide and the shover are caused to act upon the shover and,

drive it backward to carry any potatoes that have fallen from the hopper into the separating chamberu backward to the dipper e,that

is lover the dipper e as shown in Fig. 8. If

the shover should meet with undue `obstruc- IOO IIO

tion in its passage backward, being mounted t upon a pivot held in position by a spring, the shover will yield when the obstruction is sufficient to overcome the opposing force of the spring as. The shover is thus carried back and forth in the separation chamber at proper times so as to insure the filling of the dipper.

The shover preferably consists of three triangular plates as shown. When the shover returns toward the front of the machine itis i so shaped that it may pass under any potatoes that may be in its path. The swinging plate a5 is pivoted to the reciprocating slide t) l as shown, and thus as the shover is' carried in.

one direction the plate is carried in the other. The plate a and the shover a thus act tothat is, the shover carries the seed toward the dipper and the plate a5 passing over the top of the shover throws back any surplus of seed. When the plate a5 is carried backward, if its free end meets with any obstruction, it is swung upon its pivot. The arm a carried upon the slide b extends downwardly to one side of the chamber u and is carried back and forth between the side of the charnber and the potatoes which may be therein. This is intended to prevent any clogging of the seed in the chamber.

The bell crank lever a7 is linked between the dipper and the reciprocating slide and is so arranged that the dipper will be raised and lowered at the proper times, that is, the dipper is lowered as shown in Figs. 3 and 8 when the slide is forward and is raised and emptied into the pocket f as shown in Figs.

, erated by a trigger a to give a blow against any such surplus seed and drive it back again into the separation chamber. Thusas the free end of springactuated plate a8 comes against the trigger 0.9 the plate will be turned upon its pivot against the tension of its actuating spring until it shall pass over .the trigger, whereupon the recoil of the spring will throw the plate a8 forward and thus any surplus seed will be thrown into the separation chamber.

As shown in Fig. 8 the pocketf is open on the side next to the disk h and on its opposite side near the bottom slots are provided, as shown in Fig. 6, so that the lower tines of the forks may enter without obstruction. When the slide b carries a swinging gravity plate a5 forward an upwardly projecting arm provided upon said plate a5 is brought against axed stop am as shownin Fig. 3, and thus the free end of the plate is caused to swing forward as shown in said Fig. 3.

A View of the bell crank lever n and the spring trigger device o carried upon the slide b for operating the said bell crank lever is shown in the general plan view` of the machine, Fig. 2. As the slide is carried forward the lug or wedge shaped piece upon the free end ofthe spring trigger o passes under thel lug on the side of the end of the bell crank lever, the trigger yielding to the resistance of I by its stop the end of the bell crank is forced :down and thus the bell crank yis caused to withdraw the dog m at the proper time. gether in carrying the seed to the dipper,

. of my invention might be usefully employed without the others or in connection with forms I therefore. do not limit myself to the details of construcy tion shown.

It is evident that certain features or parts of mechanism not shown herein.

Having thus described my invention, I i

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination in a potato planter, of a hopper and a pocket for receiving a small amount Aof seed, a separation chamber between the pocket and hopper and reciprocatving mechanism for automatically and positively transporting t-he seed from the separa-v tion chamber to the pocket, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination with the pocket and.

means for successively filling the same with potatoes, of automatically actuated fork devices carried upon 'a' revolving support ,forlifting the seed from the pocket and dropping.

the same, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a potato planter a reciprocating slide, in combination with lever mechanism connected with a shover and a separation chamber through which the shover is actuated positively to carry the potatoes from the hopper backward to the dropping mechanism, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination with astationary pocket adapted to be filled with potatoes, of fork fingers carried upon a disk havinga step by step movement, of a cam for operating the fork fingers and means for imparting to said cam a limited rotary movement upon its shaft to withdraw one fork to permit the seed for one hill to drop, while another fork is caused to take hold of the seed in the pocket for auother hill.

5. The receptacle or separation chamber provided between the hopper and the pocket and reciprocating pieces or a shover adapted to move the seed in said receptacle toward the dipper, in combination with said dipper.

which is operated to ll the pocket from the receptacle, said reciprocating pieces or shover being preferably yielding, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

6. The combination with the shover adapted to be moved back and forth in the bottom of the separation chamber, of the weighted pivoted stop or plate carried by the recipro-y cating slide and adapted to be brought into position to prevent the seed from accumulat- IOO ing or becoming clogged, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

'7. The combination with the disk carrying the forks and means for rotating the same step ,by step, of the cam for operating the forks, said cam being rigidly mounted upon its shaft and an arm rigidly connected to the Same shaft on which the cam is mounted and adapted to be operated by stops carried upon the reciprocating slide to insert and withdraw the forks by giving the cam the desired limited rotary movement back and forth, substantially as and for the purpose .specilerl 8. The combination with the spring actuated plate carried by the slide, of aV trigger f arranged to release the plate and permit the same to be thrown forward to clear away any surplus seed, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

9. The combination with the disk moved step by step bya pawl upon the reciprocating slide, of the forks operated by a cam through holes or perforation's provided in the disk, and the stationary pocket opposite which the forks are successively brought by the step by step movement of the disk, whereby the seed is carried by the forks acting in success-ion backwardly and dropped, substantially `asI and for the purpose specified.

10. The combination with the disk carrying the forks, of the notched `disk lo rigid therewith and mounted upon the same shaft, a pawl carried by the reciprocating slide `adapted to engage with the notches of said disk c and the dog 'm opera-tied by the bell crank n and the spring trigger o, said spring trigger o provided with a. wedge shaped lug adapted to engage with a lug upon said bell crank being carried upon the `said reciproeating slide, .surbstantial'lyas and for the purpose specified.

11. In a potato planter a dippere and means `for automatically raising and dipping the same, substantially as and vlior the purpose specified.

12. Inrapotato planter the combination wi th `mechanism for Icarrying the potatoes toward the -droppingmechanism of a dipper e and means for raising and dipping `and then lowering the same, substantially as and for the purpose specified..

In Witness whereof `I 'hereunto subscribe in y naine this 22d day of October, A. D. 1.890.

SAMUEL H. FISH.

Witnesses:

GEORGE I. BARTON, ELLA EDLER. 

